Summary of comments received for the West Horsley Neighbourhood Area Organisation Comment Officer's Response (if applicable) Member of the I support the West Horsley Parish Council application to We acknowledge your support public designate West Horsley as a separate neighbourhood area. for the proposed Speaking as a resident of 31 years, I consider that West Horsley neighbourhood area. is quite different in nature from the neighbouring parish of East Horsley and the two should not be confused. Anyone who proposes that the two parishes should be considered as a single neighbourhood is ignorant of past history and the very widely differing character of the two communities. Member of the I fully support the West Horsley Parish Council's application for We acknowledge your support public Neighbourhood Area status. for the proposed neighbourhood area. The planning officers and councillors of GBC have signally failed to listen to the concerns about the destruction of the green belt in West Horsley. The draft local plan would result in the urbanisation of this small hamlet. The draft local plan erroneously defines West Horsley as a medium village. It has no post office, and is therefore defined as a hamlet. The infrastructure of both the Horsleys, East and West, would not cope with more than a small increase in housing numbers. I therefore hope that WHPC will be able to deliver a neighbourhood plan which will meet the needs of its residents, and provide sufficient housing to cater for local needs. It has been well documented by activists, including the Guildford Greenbelt Group, that there is no need to build on any of the green belt in the borough, as there is sufficient land in brownfield sites to meet the housing needs of the borough, and beyond. It has also been demonstrated that the proposed target housing number of 652 p.a. is at least double that needed, and which GBC has failed to reflect in the draft local plan. Let us have our democratic right to decide what is best for our own village. [Name redacted] Member of the Re your email concerning neighbourhood area plans I support We note your support for the public the proposal. proposed neighbourhood area. Member of the I very much support the Parish Council application for the We acknowledge your support public development of a Neighbourhood Plan for East Horsley ( and for the proposed seperately for West Horsley) whereby the residents of these neighbourhood area. villages can determine what level of sustainable development is appropriate for this neighbouhood which will preserve the existing rural environment and housing density in close proximity to Greater London, and which also recognises the severe limitations on local infrastucture including particularly roads/ transport, flood drainage and schools/ public amenities. Member of the I think this is an excellent proposal - it gives residents of the We acknowledge your support public parish a real opportunity to be part of the planning process and for the proposed hopefully a voice in the decision making. [Name redacted] neighbourhood area. Dagero Ltd. As longstanding West Horsley residents, my family and I strongly We acknowledge your support support the creation of a Neighbourhood Plan for the village as a for neighbourhood planning in way of increasing the say of local residents in their own future, West Horsley. It is not clear especially in relation to the housing issues outlined in the Parish whether your support the Council's application letter. Unfortunately, the current Guildford proposed neighbourhood area Local Plan process has exposed a complete disregard by the boundary. GBC Executive for local views. By trying to "inset" (i.e. remove) the Horsleys from the Green Belt and proposing the building of hundreds of new homes within West Horsley parish, the draft Local Plan, championed by the Leader and the Lead Councillor for Planning (and abetted by a Planning Department which independent consultants have recently found to be dysfunctional), have demonstrated a complete incapacity to understand the wishes and character of this village. [Comment redacted]. While recognising the constraints imposed under the Localism Act, a Neighbourhood Plan may go some way towards devolving a small measure of responsibility for local planning to a more sensible level, and to restoring a degree of trust in the integrity of local representatives. Member of the I support the application and the opportunity for my locality to We acknowledge your support public have some influence in matters of direct concern to the local for the proposed community. neighbourhood area. Member of the Dear Sirs, We acknowledge your support public for neighbourhood planning in I agree that West Horsley should be asked to produce their own the parish West Horsley. It is Neighbourhood Plan. not clear whether you support the proposed neighbourhood area boundary. Burpham Map in West Horsley document along Ockham Road North Thank you for bringing this to Neighbourhoo indicates centre line of Road as Boundary. (probably correct) our attention. Our mapping d Forum East Horsley indicates West Horsley side of Road - suggesting system shows that at Ockham diversion lines between two applications are not consistent Road North south of East Lane, the dividing line between East and West Horsely runs through the centre of the road. The map used in the application was sourced from Surrey County Council and shows the correct boundary at higher levels of zoom but an unclear boundary at the scale used here. We do not consider this mapping error to be a serious issue as the correct parish boundary is a matter of public record and both neighbourhood area applications refer to the parish boundary. Member of the I support West Horlsey application for Neighbourhood area We acknowledge your support public status for the proposed neighbourhood area. Member of the I would like to support West Horsley Parish Council's application We acknowledge your support public for the designation of a neighbourhood area covering the parish for the proposed of West Horsley neighbourhood area. Member of the As a resident of West Horsley I believe this village is a suitable We acknowledge your support public and appropriate area for neighbourhood planning purposes and for the proposed hope that it will duly be designated a Neighbourhood Area. neighbourhood area. Member of the I am a resident of West Horsley and refer specifically to the site We acknowledge your support public allocations 70,71,72 and 73 for the proposed neighbourhood area. We will My comments and observations are as follows: enter your comments about the draft Local Plan into the 1. Settlements such as West Horsley have evolved over Draft Local Plan strategy and time and the imposition of such a large development of housing sites consultation. will adversely impact on the character, nature and heritage of West Horsley 2. Public services and infrastructure are insufficient to support the level of housing development proposed. 3. School facilities in West Horsley are limited and could not support the development proposed. Also, it is inappropriate to suggest that independent schools are 'in walking distance' of the areas for development. These schools have a wide catchment area and are related more to income than proximity. Therefore this is an unsupportable suggestion in the housing plan. 4. Land your survey characterised as 'poor agricultural' was being used quite satisfactorily some years ago, particularly for diary farming. Much of the land around West Horsley is actually good usable arable/pasture agricultural land. I consider the survey characterises the quality of agricultural land in West Horsley too harshly. Land like this should be considered an asset as it also sustains biodiversity. 5. Greater thought should be given to developing housing within the hinterland of the Guildford urban area where services and infrastructure are already well developed and have capacity for further development. The local villages have little ability to absorb more housing, particularly on the scale proposed in the Local Plan 6. The danger of the way this Local plan is presented is that it doesn't take into account the effects of the aggregated house building. In individual sites it appears modest, but aggregating the proposed house building in an 'area' will have a profound impact and unintended adverse consequences. 7. Little respect has been given to the nature of West Horsley Village. It has evolved to where it is today and artificial, high intensity house building just to fit a grand plan is not the way these small communities develop and will have adverse consequences for the future. 8. The manner in which the Green Belt has been adjusted to fit the Local Plan is simply not acceptable. In the plan the Green Belt rolls over areas that actually could be considered partially urbanised and then stops at West Horsley/East Clandon boundary. West Horsley evolved from a rural community similar to East Clandon, and it appears to me that the Green belt adjustment is applied in a most arbitrary way, with no attempt to recognise 'community'. 9. Site 73 would be built on land with a severe drainage problem and would adversely impact the flooding potential of the Ripley Lane area, which is already prone to flooding 10. The housing plans for West Horsley are very crude and totally inappropriate. It is recognised that additional housing is required on a national basis, and it is strongly recommended that urban, brownfield and more suitable sites should be considered first before deciding to rip the heart out of village life to meet what is little more than an academic expedient. 11. It is a positive step that West Horsley is to be designated as a 'Neighbourhood Area' as any successful development would need to be achieved sympathetically, sustainably and effectively Merrow Thank-you for your email of 2 July about the application from We acknowledge your support Residents' the East and West Horsley Parish Councils to be designated as for the proposed Association neighbourhood areas.